Norilsk Nickel: Nickel Prices Won't Recover For Another 2 Years

Norilsk Nickel doesn’t have high hopes for nickel prices. Forecasting that “prices are unlikely to recover for another two years as producers struggle with “unprecedented” low prices and a 100,000-tonne surplus,” reports Reuters.

“Even with cutbacks, [head of strategic marketing Anton] Berlin warned, it will take several years to work through record high stocks in LME-registered warehouses and China’s growing inventory of nickel pig iron (NPI), a low-cost alternative raw material for making stainless steel.”

“It will be 2015 when we expect some improvement. By 2015, we’ll see a more reasonable price,” he said [in the interview].

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The Indian nickel cash price saw a 0.6 percent drop on Monday, October 7,  making it the biggest mover of the day. On the LME, the nickel spot price fell 0.6 percent to $13,550 per metric ton. The 3-month price of nickel weakened by 0.4 percent on the LME, settling at $13,635 per metric ton.

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Chinese stainless steel prices closed flat for the day. The price of Chinese ferro-chrome saw essentially no change for the fifth day in a row. The price of Chinese ferro-moly remained essentially flat.

For the fifth consecutive day, the price of Chinese 316 stainless coil held flat. The price of Chinese 304 stainless coil saw little movement. The price of Chinese 316 stainless steel scrap held steady. The price of Chinese 304 stainless steel scrap was unchanged. For the fifth day in a row, the price of Chinese primary nickel remained essentially flat.